Kalyan Chaubey's remarks will hurt morale of referees: Ex-FIFA referee Gautam Kar

Gautam Kar, former AIFF head of referees, said the outburst of federation president Kalyan Chaubey would hurt the confidence of the referees officiating Indian Super League (ISL) matches.

Chaubey, in an AIFF release on Monday, said, "The season has seen increasing concerns over referee decisions with complaints and counter-claims. Clubs have submitted hard evidence in the form of videos to back their claims. Several games have been impacted due to unfortunate ‘plain-sight errors’, and admittedly below the acceptability of standards expected from us."

“We can’t hide behind the mask of the ‘acceptable 15% human error norm’… I urge you all to look at these incidents from the emotional investment of the fans and the financial investment of the clubs….” Chaubey added.

Several ISL clubs this season raised objections about the poor quality of refereeing that affected the outcome of several matches and the overall standard of league matches.

In Sunday’s AIFF meeting, ISL referees were asked for clarifications on 24 decisions from seven games.

But reacting to Chaubey's statement, Kar, a former FIFA referee, said to Hindustan Times, “It will hurt the morale of referees to some extent."

“As director of referees, I would always ensure that the morale of my match officials was high. That is as important as their technical ability especially in the time of heightened scrutiny due to improved broadcast technology,” he added.